Mozilla Firefox Privacy Policy

Add-ons Features

One thing that makes Firefox so flexible is the ability for you to add various add-ons, extensions, and themes to Firefox, thereby creating a custom browser that fits your needs. The following features show how Firefox provides the ability both to obtain additional add- ons easily and to protect against potentially harmful add-ons.

Automated Update Service

Firefox’s automatic update feature periodically checks to see if an updated version of Firefox and installed add-ons are available from Mozilla.

This feature sends Non-Personal Information to Mozilla, including the version of Firefox you are using, build ID and target, update channel, your language preference, and your operating system. This feature also sends Potentially Personal Information to Mozilla in the form of your IP address and a cookie that contains a unique numeric value to distinguish individual Firefox installs. Mozilla uses this information to provide you with updated versions of Firefox and to understand the usage patterns of Firefox users. We use this information to improve our products and services and to support decision making regarding feature and capacity planning.

Mozilla does not collect or track any Personal Information or any information about the websites you visit, and Mozilla does not release the raw information we obtain from these Firefox features to the public. We may release reports containing Aggregate Data so that our global community can make better product and design decisions. To prevent Mozilla from obtaining this information, you can turn this feature off in Firefox’s preferences. An article in our Firefox Knowledge Base gives you information about changing your preferences in non-mobile versions of Firefox.

Blocklist Feature

Firefox also offers a Blocklist feature. With this feature, once a day Firefox does a regularly scheduled, automatic check to see if you have any harmful add-ons or plug-ins installed. If so, this feature disables add-ons or plug-ins that Mozilla has determined contain known vulnerabilities or major user-facing issues or fatal bugs (e.g., Firefox crashes on startup or something causes an endless loop). You may view the current list of Blocklisted items. This feature sends Non-Personal Information to Mozilla, including the version of Firefox you are using, operating system version, build ID and target, update channel, and your language preference. This feature also sends Potentially Personal Information to Mozilla in the form of your IP address and a cookie. In addition, Mozilla also uses this feature to analyze Firefox usage patterns so we may improve our products and services, including planning features and capacity. Currently there is no basic user interface to disable the Blocklist feature. An article in our Firefox Knowledge Base explains how you may disable the Blocklist feature. Disabling the Blocklist feature is not recommended as it may result in using extensions known to be untrustworthy.

Crash-Reporting Feature (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

Firefox has a crash-reporting feature that sends a report to Mozilla when Firefox crashes. Mozilla uses the information in the crash reports to diagnose and correct the problems in Firefox that caused the crash. Though this feature starts automatically after Firefox crashes, it does not send information to Mozilla until you explicitly authorize it to do so. By default, this feature sends a variety of Non-Personal Information to Mozilla, including the stack trace (a detailed description of which parts of the Firefox code were active at the time of the crash) and the type of computer you are using. Additional information is collected by the crash reporting feature. Which crash reporting feature is used and what additional information collected by Firefox depends on which version of Firefox you’re using. For pre-3.x versions of Firefox, please see the end of this privacy policy.

Location-Aware Feature

Beginning with Firefox 3.5 and all versions of Firefox for mobile, Firefox offers a Location-Aware Feature, parts of which may be provided by third-party service providers.

Panorama Feature (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

Starting with Firefox 4, Firefox provides Panorama, which manages your tab experience. Your tab usage and names are not sent to Mozilla, but rather reside locally on your device. The first time you run Panorama, a video may be presented to you explaining Panorama. The video or web page is hosted by Mozilla so Mozilla receives your IP address and date and time of receiving the video.

Firefox Sync Feature

The Firefox Sync feature is included in versions of Firefox beginning with Version 4. Firefox Sync allows you to synchronize certain data between your computers, mobile phones, and other devices that have the Firefox browser installed, by utilizing the Firefox Sync Services. (You can also use Sync with a syncing service hosted on a non-Mozilla server set up by yourself or a third party, but in that case this policy doesn’t apply to your use of such syncing service.) Examples of data you can synchronize include browsing history, form history, bookmarks, saved passwords, preferences, and open tabs. This data (“Firefox Sync User Data”) is stored on, manipulated, and transmitted to and from Mozilla’s servers by means of your use of the Firefox Sync Services. Firefox Sync User Data is encrypted on your computer before it is sent to Mozilla’s servers, so it is not available to Mozilla in a readable form. Mozilla uses SSL/TLS technology to ensure your Firefox Sync User Data is encrypted during transit.

In order to utilize the Sync functionality you must register for the Firefox Sync Services. During registration you will need to provide your email address and create a username and password (collectively “Account Data”). Your Account Data will be encrypted using SSL/TLS for transit. Your password will be stored on our servers in an encrypted form called a hash. This form of encryption disguises your password on the server, but still allows us to authenticate you when you sign into the Firefox Sync Services. Certain versions of Sync also ask you to create a secret phrase. The secret phrase is stored on your computer and is not sent to the Firefox Sync servers or to Mozilla. Mozilla does not collect any other Personal Information through Firefox Sync.

Mozilla receives and uses the following Non-Personal and Potentially Personal Information for the purpose of providing and improving the Firefox Sync Services: IP address, username, date and time of accessing the Firefox Sync Services, user agent string information such as the type of client OS and Firefox version in use, and aggregated operational data such as access log data and how many bookmarks, history, or tabs users have collectively created and synced.

The Firefox Sync Services also receive the host names you have given your devices that you are syncing. These names are used to label your tabs within Firefox Sync. If you don’t want to share your devices’ names, you should consider naming your devices with fanciful names rather than your actual name. The information is transmitted using SSL. Currently, you can opt out of having your devices named in Firefox Sync by visiting the Firefox preferences pane or about:config.

You can disconnect from the Firefox Sync Services and have your Account Data and Firefox Sync User Data removed from our servers at any time. On your computer, go to the “Tools” menu, highlight “Sync,” and click “Disconnect.” Then go to https://services.mozilla.com/delete-account/, and submit the form to request deletion of your Account Data and Firefox Sync User Data from our servers. If you are transferring a synced device to another party (such as if you are sharing, reselling, or donating your laptop or phone) you may wish to disconnect and then remove your Sync data from your device to avoid sharing it with the device recipient.

Personas Feature

Firefox’s Personas feature is a theme that lets you personalize the look of your browser.

Report Web Forgery Feature (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

Firefox’s Report Web Forgery feature lets you report suspected web forgeries to Mozilla’s third party service provider(s) for the web forgery protection feature when you encounter a suspected malicious “phishing” or fraudulent website that is impersonating a legitimate website. This feature sends your comments about the suspected fraudulent website to our third-party provider(s), as well as the same information that the browser sends when you visit a website. Our policy is to require each of our third-party providers to enter into written agreements with Mozilla that prohibit them from releasing Potentially Personal Information to the public. Our policy is to only permit these third party providers to use this information in conjunction with the web forgery protection service they are providing. In addition, we require each third-party provider to maintain its own privacy policy that is linked to the online form where you report a potential web forgery. To prevent the third party provider from obtaining this information, don’t use this feature to report a web forgery. (Also see “Protection Against Suspected Forgery and Attack Sites Features” below.)

Usage Statistics (also known as Telemetry)

Beginning with version 7, Firefox includes functionality that is turned off by default to send to Mozilla non-personal usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. The only Potentially Personal Information sent to Mozilla when this functionality has been enabled is IP addresses. Usage statistics are transmitted using SSL (a method of protecting data in transit) and help us improve future versions of Firefox. Once sent to Mozilla, usage statistics are stored in an aggregate form and made available to a broad range of developers, including both Mozilla employees and public contributors. Once this functionality is enabled, users can disable it in Firefox's Options/Preferences. Simply deselect the "Submit performance data" item.

Snippets

Firefox's default home page (<about:home>) loads snippets of info that we think will be useful to you. You can see them right below the search bar. Once per day, Firefox gets new snippets from Mozilla. Whenever you see a snippet, that snippet makes a request to Mozilla, so that we can count how often snippets are viewed.

This request to Mozilla only sends the name of the snippet and is securely transmitted over HTTPS. We only use the information from these requests to estimate what fraction of Firefox users click on each snippet, and we break down this info into general categories like Firefox version and geographic area. We will not use any of the information in this request to attempt to identify you or your activity anywhere else online, and we aggregate the info we receive into these general categories as soon as is practical.

Feedback Button and Test Pilot for Beta Users

If you installed a Firefox 4 beta and then got the general release version of Firefox 4 by clicking an “update” button, then your Firefox still has the feedback features you received as a beta user. If you installed a beta version of Firefox 4 for computers and then got the general release version of Firefox 4 by clicking a “download” button, you still have the Test Pilot add-on as an extension to Firefox. The privacy policy for Feedback is here and for Test Pilot is here. If you decide to remove Test Pilot or Feedback from Firefox on your computer, you can do so under the Tools menu in Firefox by selecting add-ons in the drop down menu and then uninstall. If you decide to remove Beta Tester Tools from Firefox on your mobile device, you can do so under the Add-ons Manager pane in the Browser Controls window by selecting the add-on in the extension list and clicking "Disable."

Secure Website Certificate Verification

When you visit a secure website, Firefox may check with any status provider mentioned in the certificate to validate that website’s certificate. Firefox sends only the certificate identification to the certificate provider, not the exact URL you are visiting. Sending these verification requests to third parties is sometimes necessary to ensure your connection to a site is secure; to help maintain your security, Firefox may block access to the site if it can't verify your connection using the third party. If the certificate is no longer valid, you will receive an error page that states why the certificate is not valid and you will not be able to access that website. The technical name for this process is OCSP or On-line Certificate Status Protocol. You may disable online certificate verification in Firefox's preferences under the encryption tab. If you do this, none of the information discussed here will be sent to any third party certificate provider. An article in our Firefox Knowledge Base gives you information about changing your preferences. However, if you choose to disable the online verification feature, Firefox will not be able to confirm the identity of the website you are visiting, which may put you at greater risk of having your private information intercepted. In this case, Firefox will also not show the identity of the website in the URL bar.

Protection Against Suspected Forgery and Attack Sites Features (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

The Firefox forgery and attack protection feature displays a warning if the website you are visiting is suspected of impersonating a legitimate website (commonly referred to as a phishing or forgery website) or a site that infiltrates or damages a computer system without your informed consent, including, without limitation, any computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, computer contaminant and/or other malicious and unwanted software (commonly called an attack site or malware). By default, Firefox checks the web pages that you visit against a disallowed list that is downloaded to your hard drive at regularly scheduled intervals (e.g., approximately twice per hour), the rate of frequency may change from time to time. The disallowed list does not include the full URL of each suspicious site. Instead, each URL is hashed (obscured so it can't be read) and then broken into portions. Only a portion of each hashed URL is included on the disallowed list on your hard drive. If there is a match, Firefox will check with its third party provider to ensure that the website is still on the disallowed list. The information sent between Firefox and its third party provider(s) are hashed URLs. In fact, multiple hashed URLs are sent with the real hash so that the third party provider(s) will not know what site you are visiting. If there is a match, Firefox displays either a “Reported Web Forgery” or “Reported Attack Site” alert, as applicable.

You may completely turn off the forgery and/or attack site protection features in Firefox’s preferences. If you do this, none of the information discussed here will be downloaded to your hard drive or sent to any third party service provider. An article in our Firefox Knowledge Base gives you information about changing your preferences.

Each time Firefox checks in with a third party provider to download a new disallowed list, Non-Personal Information and Potentially Personal Information, such as the information that the browser sends every time you visit a website as well as the version number of the disallowed list on your system, is sent to a third party provider. In order to safeguard your privacy, Firefox will not transmit the complete URL of web pages that you visit to anyone other than Mozilla and its service providers. While it is possible that a third party service provider may determine the actual URL from the hashed URL sent, Mozilla’s policy is to require its third party service providers to enter into a written agreement with Mozilla not to use any data or other information about or from users of Firefox for purposes other than to provide and maintain their service. In addition, Mozilla’s policy is to prohibit these third party service providers from correlating any Firefox user data with any other data collected through other products, services or web properties of that provider. These third party service providers may post about additional notices regarding their applicable privacy policies. (For example, see Google Safe Browsing Service in Mozilla Firefox Version 3.)

Please note that we’re not yelling at you in this paragraph. Our lawyers have advised us that we need to make sure this information is conspicuous so you’ll read it. The forgery and attack site protection feature is provided “as is” and for your information as advice and guidance only. Mozilla and its contributors, licensors and partners do not guarantee that these protection features will prevent you from being deceived by a malicious website and we strongly recommend that you continue to be vigilant while online, particularly when following links sent to you in e-mail.

Report Broken Website Feature. -3.6.x.

Firefox’s Report Broken Website feature lets you notify Mozilla when a website you visit improperly displays or incorrectly functions. The feature sends the URL of the broken website to Mozilla. You may also choose to send your email address and a description of the problem. This feature also sends your IP address and a variety of Non-Personal Information to Mozilla, including but not limited to the version of Firefox you are using and your language preference. Except for your email and IP address, Mozilla makes all of this information public. This feature does not send information to Mozilla until you explicitly authorize Firefox to do so. To prevent this public release of Personal and Potentially Personal Information, don’t report a website if the website’s URL contains your Personal and Potentially Personal Information, and don’t include Personal Information in your description of the problem. To prevent the release of any information, don’t use this feature to report a broken website.

Crash-Reporting Feature for Firefox 1.0-2.x.

For these earlier versions of Firefox, “Talkback” is Firefox’s crash reporting feature. Talkback also gives you the option to provide your Personal Information and Potentially Personal Information (including your name, email address, and the url you were visiting) and Potentially Personal Information (including your computer’s name, IP address, and the processes you were running at the time of the crash). You can selectively disable the sending of this information. Additionally, you have the option to include the URL of the site you were visiting when Firefox crashed, a comment, and your email address in the report. Mozilla only makes Non-Personal Information and Potentially Personal Information in the public reports available online at http://talkback-public.mozilla.org/.

Security for Firefox 2.0 to 2.x.